A dianilinoglutacondialdehyde compound having an amino group in the meso-position contains a ClO.sub.4.sup.- ion as a paired ion as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,482,978 and 3,552,974. A compound containing ClO.sub.4.sup.- is explosive and thus is not suitable for production. Such a compound has been synthesized from ethyl N-phenylformimidate. Ethyl N-phenylformimidate is synthesized by a method described in "ORGANIC SYNTHESES", Collective Volume 4, pp. 464-466. However, this synthesis method requires distillation.